Comment of the Week – 8.30.14

It’s Comment of the Week time! I mean it isn’t because it’s already Tuesday and COTW is supposed to publish at the end of the week. And that’s supposed to be every week, not every third week. Yes, we’ve been busy here at Salty Running!

While I have been busy sending my oldest off to Kindergarten (!), Cinnamon has been working and moving! Garlic went on vacation and so many of our Salties are also impacted by the back-to-school madness. It’s been, shall we say, nutso just trying to get regular posts up on a timely basis let alone stay on top of all the extras.

But this week’s commenter extraordinaire is so awesome, it’s worth the butt busting and late posting to bring her story to you! Find which comment took our top prize after the jump!

This week’s winner is World_Runner for this gem on Basil’s Coachingpost:

Well done! This is, by far, one of the best Salty Running pieces I have read. I think we as women need to hear that there is absolutely nothing wrong with success, happiness and being ourselves. We ( or at least I) buy my husband autographed NFL football jerseys he can hang on the wall because football is one of his hobbies and pastimes. That is what is messed up. Everybody thinks that is a great gift but they scoff at hiring a running coach. I think a running coach is far more useful.

We love this comment because she totally recognizes that being a competitive runner is way more cool than being a professional football fan. All right, while certainly that’s true, what we really love about this comment is that she’s totally right: we never scoff at typical man hobbies so why should we feel funny about pursuing our own?

When I asked World_Runner about what she does when she’s not leaving amazing comments on Salty Running, here’s what she had to say:

Okay, well, I have been running for 19 years. I started when I got out of high school and needed something to keep me in shape (I played basketball in high school). I ran my first 5K and placed first in my age group and thought, “Hey! If I really train I could make this running thing something pretty cool.” I ran my first marathon (Fort Worth Cowtown) in 2000 and immediately set my sights on Boston. I qualified for Boston in 2003.

Soon after, my husband got a job in the Foreign Service and we moved to Kuwait. So I trained for Boston while living in Kuwait. Talk about hot! But, desperate for training partners I started a running group and quickly found a few other people willing to marathon train in the heat of the desert. I ran Boston in 2004. Shortly after, we found out we were expecting our first child.

Fast forward, I now have 2 children and have lived in 5 different countries. My kids have trained with me since they were babies. At one point we had tracked 800+ miles in the double BOB. Both children are now in school and I am finding that I am now able to focus a bit more on serious training. I am training to run a 3:30 – 3:45 marathon at the Istanbul Eurasia Marathon in November and, for the first time in my life, I am utilizing a coach or rather, coaches, through the Runners Connect training program. I have struggled in the past to string together a good bit of strong training. The coaching has helped me, 1) to become a stronger runner, 2) to relax and enjoy my running and the process of training and 3) to set a range of goals (which has really helped me to relax about my running).

My bucket list goal is to run a 3:30 – 3:45 marathon but I also have a goal of reaching a base mileage point of 80 miles per week and a peak mileage of 100 kilometers per week as well as becoming strong enough to do 3 pull-ups in a row. I have no upper body strength whatsoever and it is embarrassing! 🙂

Whew! So when I am not pounding the pavement I work as a software developer, read, crochet, bake and teach my kids to ride their bikes so they can bike with me while I run!

See! Isn’t she amazing! Bringing her story to you was totally worth not cleaning my bathroom.

Thanks again World_Runner and good luck with your Istanbul Marathon training and kid chasing! Keep us posted on how it all goes!!!!

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Salty Running boss and mother of 3 little ones with PRs of 3:10:15 (26.2), 1:25:59 (13.1) and 18:15 (5k). I love to write about running culture, mental training, and fitting in a serious running habit with the rest of a busy life.